Free Spiret: The Story of Dust Devil
by uneeck42
Summary: This is the story of Dust Devil's life and how she came to live in Ponyville
1. 1: Dust Devil

Chapter 1: Dust Devil

Dust devil awoke in a cold sweat, "Today is the day." She thought to herself. She threw her front limb groggily over her eyes in an attempt to block out some of the harsh morning light that was peeking through her think curtains. She sighed heavily as she remembered that today was going to be show and tell. She has been strategically wearing skirts and dresses all week to hide the fact that she had discovered her super special talent over the weekend. She was planning to reveal it, and her cutie mark, to the class, as was the trend for her class to do when a foal or filly got their cutie mark.

Her best friend Fleur Dis Lee, a stylish white unicorn with a light pink flowing mane, had been guessing at it all week trying to get Dust Devil to fess up to what her cutie mark was. She was close, of course; Fleur knew everything about Dust Devil. They had known each other for as long as she could remember and made the most unlikely, yet wonderful friendship. Fleur had always been a delicate character; she liked her fashion, her tea, and brushing her long mane. She was as girly as girly gets, and she had known from the day she got her first magazine that she wanted to be a model (good thing she was naturally gorgeous), but she was kind and very understanding. Dust Devil however had always been a little rough around the edges. She liked to fly fast, yell loudly, and get into all sorts of mischief. Despite all of this she never really felt a passion for anything besides being free and letting the wind take her anywhere at a moment's notice. Her mother always said that Dust Devil's cutie mark was bound to be either a splotch of mud (because she always came home dirty) or some sort of depiction of the wind.

Fleur was upset all of this week because Dust devil had been there when Fleur had gotten her cutie mark, but Fleur was not there when Dust Devil had gotten hers. "What kind of a best friend am I if I wasn't even there when you discovered your super special talent?" Fleur murmured with a distressed look on her face. "I feel like I've failed you."

"That's just dumb Fleur, you had your modeling audition in Canterlot this weekend and if you were here you wouldn't have had that chance."

"Well I still don't understand why I had to wait all week to find out at show and tell like everypony else."

Dust Devil was silent to that remark. She still wasn't sure if she liked her cutie mark, all her life her peers, and even her mother had joked about how her cutie mark would have something to do with her getting covered in dirt all of the time, and in a weird way they were right. She had gotten her cutie mark last Saturday while playing out in the abandoned fields where the apple family used to live before they moved their orchard to Appleloosa. She was whizzing up and down the field while trying to think of something fun to entertain herself with while Fleur was in Canterlot for her first real modeling audition. Dust Devil was excited for Fleur because she knew this was what Fleur wanted. As Dust Devil was flying through the fields her attention became drawn to the way the dust from the old dried fields kicked up so easily when she flew low to the ground. She remembered the way the pegasus ponies in her town had gathered together to bring water up to Cloudsdale one year by flying in circles to create a tornado over a lake. Dust devil was too small when that happened to participate but she remembered really wanting to try. "Maybe I can make a tornado all on my own." Dust Devil thought to herself as she continued to watch the dust from the fields blow around in the wind she created.

She began to change the methodical pattern of her flying into a tight circle and watched with glee at how easily the dust got sucked into her flight pattern. She was going pretty fast when she started getting painful dust particles wafting into her eyes. She slowed down and rubbed her eyes until they no longer hurt. "How am I supposed to make a tornado when I can't even open my eyes?" She thought, getting irritated. Then out of the corner of her eye, she saw a gleam. Her attention was drawn and she touched down on land to trot over to the shining object. It was a grimy old pair of work goggles, and they were perfect. She looked them over and found that other than being dirty they were perfectly fine and did not hesitate to clear the lenses of grime and place them over her eyes. They were warm from sitting in the days hot sun but Dust Devil disregarded this for she was far to enamored with moving forward with her experiment. She took off with speed and began flying in circles with full concentration. Her goggles were keeping out the dust wonderfully and as she peered around her flight area she saw that once again, a wall of dust began to rise to join her in her flight pattern. She led the dust higher and higher watching in amazement at how beautiful and calm the center looked as the dust blocked the harshest of the sun's rays and made a shade within the tunnel. She got to the level of the clouds and could feel the pull of the tornado telling her that it was now self-sustaining. She had done it! She had made a tornado all on her own, something it took 15 pegasai to do!

She watched as the tornado of dust moved slowly out of town and eventually dissipated, feeling completely accomplished with this game she had played. She noticed that the first nights star (her favorite star) had appeared in the sky signifying it was about time to head home and began to slowly drift down towards the earth. As she landed she pulled her new goggles up to her hairline and shook herself heavily in an attempt to throw off as much dust that had gathered on her body as possible so her mother wouldn't be cross with her again. As she turned around to bat her curly tail to free up more dust she noticed it. A cutie mark! It was three tornados sitting there on her flank! She squealed with joy before noticing that they had a dusty sheen to them. These tornados on her flank were specifically made of dust like the one she had just created. "What the heck kind of a talent is making dust tornados?" she yelled to the sky. She was happy to have a cutie mark finally but not too happy that, as everypony had jested, it involved being dirty.


	2. 2: Show and Tell

Chapter 2: Show and Tell

It was almost time for show and tell and Dust Devil was getting quite nervous. "What if everyone makes fun of me for my cutie mark?" she asked Fleur desperately, "I heard about a colt once who's cutie mark was three flowers, he never lived it down!"

"Well it would help if I knew what your cutie mark was, but nonetheless I don't think anyone will make fun of you, everypony likes you!"

"No Fleur, everypony like YOU because you're pretty and popular, they are only nice to me because I'm your friend."

"If that's true then they don't deserve you as a friend, and you shouldn't care what they think."

Dust Devil sighed, "but I do…" she muttered to herself to softly for Fleur to hear.

Their teacher had stomped her hooves three times which meant that is was time to be quiet, but more importantly, meant that she was about to begin show and tell. Dust Devil had begun to regret signing up to go first this morning and was running what she was planning on saying through her head.

"Class, it's time to begin show and tell, please gather in a circle and remember to be quiet while others are speaking. It looks like Dust Devil is first on our list so why don't you come on up?" The teacher said with an encouraging smile. Everypony knows that if somepony stands up for show and tell and you can't see an item then they are probably about to reveal their cutie mark, and Dust Devil's skirt was only solidifying that fact in everypony's minds. She took a deep breath and began recounting the story of how she got her cutiemark. When she was finished she looked out at her classmate's faces and saw confusion and giggles. Her face was getting hot and she just wanted to be done so she pulled off her skirt to reveal her cutie mark and waited for a response from the class. There was a long pause before somepony muttered, "what a lame talent." That sparked many other remarks,

"How is that useful to anypony?"

"What is she just going to make tornados all day for a living?"

"They're made of dust? Ew!"

Dampness forming in her eyes, she galloped out of the classroom and down the hallway to the astrology room and began to cry. It wasn't long before Fleur found her, "Oh Dusty, don't listen to them, they just don't know what to think because they have never seen what you made."

"But they're right, how am I supposed to live with dust tornados being my super special talent? What good does that do for anypony?"

Fleur thought for a moment then soothingly spoke, "Who says your cutie mark defines what you do with your life? You have always been as free as the wind, and now the wind really is a part of you. You made something brand new that no pony has ever seen before, that is amazing and your cutie mark reflects that."

"I guess so… maybe I can make one for you this weekend."

"I would love that Dusty. By the way, dust tornado is a terrible name. I think you should call them Dust Devils."

"you know what" I like the sound of that." Dust devil chuckled as she wiped away her tears.

Fleur giggled and led her friend back to the classroom to finish out their day. After returning to the classroom Dust Devil could tell that Fleur had given them the what for If Fleur's talent wasn't already modeling, Dust Devil could have sworn it would have been making ponies be nice. "Are you still up for coming to my place for tea after school Dusty?" Fleur whispered over to Dust Devil who promptly replied, "of course, you still haven't told me how your audition wnet!"

Before Dust Devil entered her home that night she looked out into the sky. The night sky had always calmed Dust devil and she liked to sometimes talk to the mare in the moon when she was lonely or confused (even though it was just a fairy tale). She watched as a glorious full moon rose above the horizon while she talked at the moon, both explaining that Fleur wouldn't hear back from the audition until the following week, and trying to figure out her cutie mark. Just before she turned to go inside, a shooting star seemed to shoot straight out of the moon.  
"I wish to be in control of who I am and what I do; I wish that my cutie mark does not define who I am in life or where I go. I accept that I have made something new and that is totally cool, but I just want to be free as well." Dust devil whispered with her eyes shut tight.


End file.
